Suture needle



1965 D. KURTZ 3,197,997

SUTURE NEEDLE Filed Nov. 17. 1960 INVENTOR MON/9RD D. Kym,

ATTORNEY5 United States Patent 3,197,997 I SUTURE NEEDLE Leonard D. Kurtz, 9220 222nd St., Queens Village, Woodrnere, N.Y. Filed Nov. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 69,856 3 Claims. *(Cl. 72 377) This invention relates to suture needles and more particularly to a means for substantially strengthening suture needles against bending forces.

Heretofore it has been common practice to flatten by compressing portions of a curved surgical needle having a round cross-section to provide a gripping area for clamping needle holders. This procedure insures that the needle will not twist while being retained by the needle holder, but it can also be appreciated that the reduction of depth of the needle produced by this compression substantially reduces the force required to bend the needle in the plane of the curvature thereof. The resistance to bending force of surgical suture needles is of utmost importance to the surgeon who frequently must exercise considerable pressure to pass a needle through certain tissues.

An increase in the needle diameter would, of course, result in a substantial increase in the fo'rcerequired to bend the needle but such a needle modification would increase the size of the hole made by the needle and would increase trauma to the patient. Thus, the objective sought is to increase the resistance to bending without enlarging the diameter of the needle.

According to the present invention there is provided a surgical needle which has substantially increased resistance to bending wherein the needle diameter is not in creased over that which has been previously used. According to the present invention the needle is flattened by compression in the usual manner to provide a gripping area for clamping needle holders and subsequently the needle is rotated 90 in the press and again the needle is compressed and flattened. This second flattening step serves to increase the depth of the needle and hence increases the resistance to bending of the needle in the critical area adjacent the point where the needle is grasped by the needle holder. It has been found that by forming a needle in this manner a substantial improvement in the resistance to bending results, for example, tests with certain types of needles resulted in an increase in the resistance to bending of 20%. Such an increase is quite substantial and meets present day needs and, of course, the needle does not require greater force to pass it through tissues since the point is not altered and the size of the hole produced by the needle remains substantially the same.

An object of the present invention is to increase the resistance to bending of surgical suture needles Without increasing the diameter of the needle.

Another object of the present invention is to increase the depth of a needle in the area in which the needle is flattened for gripping by needle holders.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed specification in light of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a surgical suture needle illustrating the invention,

3,197,997 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 FIG. 2 is a crosssection of a portion of a needle according to prior art design, and

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the same portion of a needle according to the present invention.

Referring nowmore specifically to the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views there is shown at 1 in FIG. 1 a surgical suture needle having a point 2 at one end thereof which may be one of many known designs. A suture 3 is attached to the other end of the needle as by swagging or any other well known means for attaching sutures to needles.

Adjacent the midportion of suture needles on the inner and outer portions of the curved surfaces thereof the needle is slightly flattened. This flattening is shown in FIG. 2 at 4 and 5. This flattening is achieved by compressing the needle within a press. The flattened surfaces form gripping areas for needle holders and are provided in order toprevent twisting of the needle in the holder. However, with reference to FIG. 2 it can be seen that this flattening or compression of the needle reduces the. depth of the needle 'as indicated at 6 so that the resistance to bending of the needle is reduced.

According. to the present invention the needle is flattened both on the inner and outer curved surfaces as is customarily done and in addition is flattened by compression on the sides at 90 to the usual flattened areas. This latter step serves to increase the resistance to bending. This is shown in FIG. 3 wherein there is provided flattened areas 7 and 8 on the inner and outer curved surfaces of the needle for the purpose of providing gripping areas for the needle holders. There is also shown flattened portions 9 and 10 which result from pressing the sides of the needle together. It can be appreciated that this latter step will increase the depth 11 of the needle over that of the depth 6 of a prior art needle. This increase in depth results in a substantial increase in the resistance to bending of the needle in the plane of the curved longitudinal axis of the needle which is the direction in which the needle tends to bend when pressure is applied by the surgeon.

The following tables disclose tests made with two different needles and illustrate the substantial increase over a standard needle in the force required to bend the needle according to the present invention.

A standard prior art needle having an original wire diameter of .0245" yielded a maximum deformation force of 13.4 lbs. This needle was modified to increase the depth according to the present invention giving the following results:

Width shaft, Depth of Maximum Width inches shaft, inches deformation depth force, lbs. I

The width given in the above table refers to the width of the flattened portion of the shaft. It can be seen that the deformation force increased significantly where the width" to depth ratio is less than 1 and reached a maximum at a width to depth ratio of 0.65.

Tests were also conducted on a needle having a wire diameter of .0392 which yielded at a deformation force of 17.5 lbs. This needle when modified according to the present invention produced the following results:

Width shaft, Depth of Maximum Width inches shaft, inches deformation depth force, lbs.

1t can be readily seen that a significant increase in resistance to bending was realized at a width to depth ratio less than 1 and that a maximum increase was realized at a ratio of 0.91.

Thus, according to the present invention a substantial increase in the resistance to bending is effected by compressing the needle in such a manner as. to increase the depth in a direction in the plane of the curved longitudinal'axis of the needle. By decreasing the width to depth ratio tov a value less than one the increase in-resistance reached a maximum.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. What is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A method for inc'reasing'the resistance to bending of a surgical needle in the area of the needle gripped by a needle holder comprising the steps of compressing the needle to form flattened areas for gripping by clamping needle holders and compressing the needle in a plane at to the needle holder gripping areas to increase the thickness of the needle between the two flattened needle holder gripping areas.

2. A method of increasing the resistance to bending of a surgical needle comprising the steps of compressing the needle on two faces to form needle holder gripping areas and on two additional faces disposed substantially normal with respect to the first two faces to increase the distance between said first two faces.

3. A method of increasing the resistance to bending of a surgical needle comprising the steps of compressing a curved surgical needle on the inner and outer curved surfaces thereof to form flattened areas of a predetermined width to provide needle holder gripping areas, compressing the needle on two surfaces of said needle disposed at least substantially normally with respect to said flattened areas to increase the depthof said needle between said flattened areas, the ratio of the width of said needle to the depth thereof at said flattened areas being less than 1.

References (Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,072,482 9/13 Merrow 163-5 1,110,468 9/14 Turner 128-339 1,452,225 4/23 Smith 29-553 1,567,353 12/25 Whitney 29553 2,841,150 7/58 Riall 128339 2,920,371 1/60 Shoemaker 29-553 X 3,038,475 6/62' Orcutt 128339 WHITMORE A. WILTZ, Primary Examiner.

HAROLD, B. WHITMORE, HYLAND BIZOT,

Examiners. 

1. A METHOD FOR INCREASING THE RESISTANCE TO BENDING OF A SURGICAL NEEDLE IN THE AREA OF THE NEEDLE GRIPPED BY A NEEDLE HOLDER COMPRISING THE STEPS OF COMPRESSING THE NEEDLE TO FORM FLATTENED AREAS FOR GRIPPING BY CLAMPING NEEDLE HOLDERS AND COMPRISING THE NEEDLE IN A PLANE AT 90* TO THE NEEDLE HOLDER GRIPPING AREAS TO INCREASE THE THICKNESS OF THE NEEDLE BETWEEN THE TWO FLATTENED NEEDLE HOLDER GRIPPING AREAS. 